A look behind Alex's design-first diabetes education game, built by hand-crafted pixel art and powered by an AI that mostly knew what it was doing.

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A designer shares their three-month journey building Blood Sugar Battler, a diabetes education game, using AI tools like Lovable.dev to handle coding while maintaining creative control. The article details the complete process: designing pixel art in Aseprite, implementing game mechanics (combo systems, power-ups, blood sugar tracking), solving mobile browser audio challenges, and optimizing performance with sprite sheets. Key lessons include the importance of clear AI prompts, GitHub integration from the start, mobile viewport handling, and understanding that AI translates intent into code but cannot make creative decisions or replace critical thinking.

Blood Sugar Battler: Building a Real Game as a Designer using AI

Starting With a Prompt (And Low Expectations)

Art Direction: The Long, Tedious, Rewarding Part